El Roc

Context

This character is an original creation. We often call these “homemades” or “homebrewed” – think home cooking or craft beer.

Many of these characters were created to take part in tabletop role-playing game sessions. Others were invented as a creative writing exercise, often as part of a community event.

This specific character was part of a RPG campaign run by writeups.org contributor Kal El, set in Barcelona.

Background

Real Name: Kel’haras.

Marital Status: Single (presumably).

Known Relatives: None ; prof. Xavier Vilanova is his legal tutor on Earth.

Group Affiliation: Supernova.

Base Of Operations: Barcelona.

Height: 6’1” Weight: 190lbs. Age: 25

Eyes: Black, shining. Hair: None Skin: Silver

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Powers and Abilities

All Vulcanians possess a hardened body. It clings to life in a way almost unparalleled on the galaxy. For example, ripping their body in half just slows them (due to the lack of legs). They actually even feed on their own pain to become faster, stronger or more resilient.

This species can:

Become iron-hard (and as heavy) without losing a bit of their speedy reflexes.

See in the dark.

Fly at 25 km/h.

Needs 1/8th the air of other species.

Kel’tharas does all that at double the normal rate of his race. He even has some unique powers of his own:

A mystic flame he can throw almost unerringly.

An understanding languages he has never heard before.

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History

Kel’tharas is a silicon-based humanoid native from planet Vulcan. It is home to two races: the ruling Necrotids and the enslaved Vulcanians.

The former arrived 1,000 years ago. Wielders of dark magic and possessed by a despotic behaviour, they soon overwhelmed the civilized and pacific beings of Vulcan. Though they are very hard to kill… the natives are vulnerable to magical control.

Most Vulcanians hid their free will into a deep corner of their beings. They acted as plain automatons for ten centuries under the arcane power of the Necrotids. Few of them show any sign of free thinking, their minds as defeated as their spirits.

Kel’tharas was one more of such mindless soldiers until a scouting mission on his own planet took him to an ancient pyramid.

The blessed pyramid

For some strange reason, he started to recover his willpower. Some strange energy allowed him to break free of the spells which subjugated his race, and a cold flame (the flame of liberty?) appeared in his hands. He exited the pyramid renewed, as if freshly awakened from a long dream. But he knew he had to keep playing his part.

But he was soon sent to scout the Centauri solar system, and found intelligent lifeforms. When he refused to kill one of the natives, Quesh’nathar, the Necrotid officer imprisoned the dangerous rebel for study.

But the ship had trouble on the voyage home with an asteroid field, and Kel’tharas seized the occasion and an escape pod with a warp drive. He programmed it to reach the closest planet with intelligent life and free of Necrotid interest: Earth.

Earth

Thus he crashed in Collserola’s Range , near Barcelona. It was the same area that would go up in flames five months later, to frame Starblaze and Ulises XXI.

That was one year ago. His arrival was the object of media attention (“Europe’s first contact!”). But soon he became yesterday’s news and just another superpowered citizen of the town. Though he had no difficulty learning the languages, he had few close relations with Humans.

He has been living with Profesor Xavier Vilanova, an astrophysicist. Vilanova had been the first to discover his escape pod approaching Earth. He’s been named his legal tutor and during the last year. The professor has both been teaching Kel‘ about the Earth ways and learning about his friend from the stars.

Roughly a month after his arrival, El Roc […]

Secret origins

Unknown to Roc (or anybody in his planet) the pyramid where his mind and power awakened was the place where the Vulcanian race was given birth. It is the spirit of Vul’kah, Mother Goddess of the planet, that lives on that temple. She had been waiting the moment one of her children came to her to awaken his conscience and free the race.

It was Vul’kah who gave Kel’tharas back his free will, then his additional powers. She also improved Kel’tharas in every way she could. That was both to mark him as her Chosen and to entice the Necrotids into putting a Vulcanian soldier in a position of power. Which might give him a chance to escape to another planet.

Description

Vulcanians look like silver humanoids without reproduction-related organs, though they all roughly look male. Their eyes are pitch black, surrounded by a golden glows that intensifies in the dark. El Roc uses to go stark naked, except for a belt where he holds a wallet and a cellphone.

Whenever he uses his Flame Immunity power he is covered by rocky marble-like patches that sprout from his skin. It was how he exited his ship on Earth (as the ground around the pod was specially hot after the crash-landing), and how he first appeared in front of the awaiting cameras.

Journalist Josep Cun thus christened him El Roc. Which sounds almost the same in Català, Spanish, English and others.

Personality

El Roc keeps curiously observing Humans. He has seen they are fragile beings, awed by alien races and at the same time fast on accepting them. He thinks of humans as friends he is glad to help. He is no innocent newcomer.

He is also aware there are evil people among Earthlings, who put personal profit over others’ suffering. But he believes that they, like the dominated Vulcanians, are ruled by prejudice, obsessions or errors. As opposed to being “really evil” like Necrotids are.

He is a very patient person.He knows his mission is to return to Vulcan and save his race. But he first wants to be sure he is capable of the task, and has acquired the necessary resources.

In the meanwhile he’s enjoying his time with this new-found world. Slowly making friends is important. Necrotids believe not in friendship, so that’s a secret weapon they won’t expect.

Quotes

Barret Blanc (dispersing out of control, already waist deep sank on concrete and going down): “¡ Help ! ¡Somebody help me !”
(They try but their bodies are too low-density to interact with his. Until El Roc twenty-folds his density and grabs his hand)
El Roc: “Don’t worry my friend: I’m here”
Barret Blanc (feet back on the ground, calming down as his density returns to normal): “But, what if this happens again ?”
El Roc: “I’ll still be here, right by your side, my friend.”

DC Universe History

Vulcanians were the prototypes from which Changralyans were born. Most would find X’Hal improved Vul’kah’s design.